


Jareth's Birthday Party

by KatLeePT



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 21:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6210637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatLeePT/pseuds/KatLeePT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah throws her husband a birthday party fit, of course, for a King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jareth's Birthday Party

"What is this?" the King demanded, walking into his throne room and seeing it filled with beings who should have been scattered throughout his Labyrinth waiting to do his bidding. Sarah hid a sly smile as she noted the way the bones in her husband's cheeks tightened and drew up a little higher. "You dare call a meeting without me?" he questioned.

"Never," she answered immediately, but then she released a giggle. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she hushed as his beautiful eyes, one of blue and one of green, narrowed angrily in on her.

"Sarah," he demanded, "what have you done?" He looked again around at the room and the beings that filled it, and then he noted the boxes and bags. They were in all shapes and sizes and of materials certainly not attained from anywhere throughout his land. He stepped to the Dwarf who was nearest him and poked at the colorfully wrapped box he held. "What have you there, Hogwart?" he asked. "Another excuse to dunk you headfirst into the Bog of Eternal Stench?"

Shaking from head to toe, Hoggle promptly dropped the box and threw himself upon the King's leather boots. "OH, PLEASE, YOUR MAJESTY!" he cried. "NOT THE ETERNAL STENCH!"

Jareth kicked him away from him. "Oh, yes, Hogit! The Eternal Stench for you and for all of you if you don't tell me immediately what is happening here!"

"Oh, man, that ain't cool!" one of the Fieries complained.

"Yeah!" agreed his brother.

"Dude, the last time I was in the Bog and I tried to play a game, my eyeballs stunk so badly I had to get a new pair!"

"A new pair of eyes?" the little Worm mused aloud. "The Missus should hear this!"

"Well, Sarah?" demanded Jareth, as impatient as ever.

His Queen laid her hands upon Hoggle's quivering shoulders. "It's okay, Hoggle," she spoke softly. "He won't be dumping any one into the Bog today, I promise. Why don't you go over there with Sir Didymus and help him with his game of Scrabble while I talk to our King?"

Hoggle muttered and moaned but did as she suggested, although not without shooting Jareth another look over his small shoulder. Jareth glowered back so severely until Hoggle yipped aloud and ran to Sir Didymus' side.

"Jareth, really, I didn't think this was going to upset you," Sarah began, pulling her husband's attention away from his favorite prey.

"You didn't think calling a courtly meeting without first addressing me with your concern would upset me?"

Sarah resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "It's not exactly a courtly meeting," she pointed out. "The Fieries are here, after all."

"Yes, and since when do they come to the castle when we're not throwing a ball?"

"Well, we may have one later, if a certain person doesn't scare away all of his guests."

Jareth looked quizzically at her. Sarah smiled at the way he cocked his handsome head much as he did in his owl form. "Sarah, what are you about this time?"

She could no longer hide her smile. "Jareth, we've been married now for a good ten years, and during this time, I've never once seen you celebrate your birthday."

"I'm as old as time," he interjected.

Wildness touched her eyes and the corners of her mouth. "Somehow, from our nights in our royal bed chambers, I rather doubt that."

"It's true," he added haughtily.

"Perhaps. Sir Didymus and Hoggle did tell me that no one knows when you were really brought here."

"I've been here forever."

Sarah's teeth touched her top lip as she studied him. There was no arguing with him today, but then, there never was. He never let himself be proved wrong, even if what he was arguing for would have been slanderous had any one else dared to speak it. But that was fine, she decided. She wasn't here to win a battle. She was here for an entirely different purpose.

"Be that as it may, as old," she countered finally, making a face, "as you are, don't you think it's high past time you celebrated your birthday?" He started to speak, but she boldly interrupted him. "I do. So . . . " She raised her hands. Every one stopped talking and looked at those delicate hands that helped to rule their kingdom. "It's time to paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty!"

She grinned, and simultaneously, the Fieries began to play. A huge banner inscrawled with, "Hapy Burfday, Kingie," dropped from the ceiling, and a few cannons fired. Jareth looked at it with his regal mouth barely open and his stern eyes softening with surprise. "They . . . You . . . " He looked again at the banner. "You taught the Goblins how to write?"

Sarah smiled. Leave it to her husband to catch on to that fact rather than that all of these celebrations were for him! "Some of the smarter ones," she answered wisely. "Sir Didymus helped. Spelling is another matter."

He shook his head slowly from side to side, watching her with renewed interest and, Sarah liked to think, more than just a touch of amazement. He wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her close against him. "You never cease to surprise me, Sarah."

She stroked his cheek lovingly. "I'm glad," she answered, grinning, a brief second before his lips touched hers. He drank of her sweetly and deeply, his tongue plundering her soul, until another round of fire from the cannons made him look back up. He was quite unaccustomed to them firing without an order from him.

Grinning widely, Sarah suggested, "Why don't you open some of your presents?"

"Presents?" he asked unwittingly.

"Yes." When he still didn't catch on, she explained, "All those bags and boxes that are in colorful paper from my world. Every one of them contains something for you."

"Really? Like snakes and lizards, puppy dog tails?"

She laughed. "There may be some of those in them. There's no telling with our subjects!" she admitted. "But everybody has brought something here they want to give you today, husband dear, to celebrate your birthday."

He began to sink down to a sitting position. Goblins ran with chairs, but Ludo was behind him. He found himself poised on his massive, furry knee. His enormous pet looked down at him. His grin was almost as large as his wife's. "Jareth friend," he announced happily.

"Yes, yes," muttered the King. "Do go ahead and tell the whole kingdom, why don't you?" He looked around the room, the knowledge of what Sarah had told him sinking into his mind. Every one here was here for him. He had tortured and scared them over the centuries, and yet every single one of his subjects was here and they had all brought something for him. He didn't care if it was newts and eyeballs. They had cared enough to come and find something they felt worthy of being a gift to him, and their gracious giving was truly amazing.

He reached out again, took Sarah's hand, and pulled her closer. "Why don't I start with your present?" he asked, kissing her hand.

Her grin turned coy. "You'll get that one," she told him, "tonight."

He flashed her a royal grin. "I can scarcely wait, my Queen."

She smiled. "Me, too," she whispered, and then above the roar of the Fieries' music, she called, "Hoggle, why don't you start?"

"Why don't I start what, Sarah?" the Dwarf asked, eyeing Jareth suspiciously.

"Why don't you give our King his first present?"

"Oh, that!" His face was still full of fear, but slowly, cautiously, he approached the King, bowed so low to the ground that his fat nose almost touched the stone floor, and held up his box.

Jareth took it, but then he just sat and looked at it.

"You unwrap it," Sarah whispered to him.

Carefully, Jareth removed one long strip of paper after another. When at last he had the box opened, he looked down at his gift, still clearly perplexed. Sarah looked over his shoulder and frowned, also not knowing what to make of Hoggle's present.

Jareth lifted the objects out of the box with care and examined them closer. The answer clicked in Sarah's mind a scant moment after Hoggle, still bowed low before the King, began to shake again. She looked cautiously to her husband, prepared to intervene on the Dwarf's behalf if need be.

Jareth felt the cushiony material as he mulled over what to do with the things. He'd never wear them on his boots, and then it dawned on him. Hoggle had cared enough to bring him a present, but he had brought him something he would never use, something, too, that would keep Jareth's many kicks from hurting him quite so badly as they did. He'd never put the cushions on the ends of his boots, but he was surprised at the Dwarf's cunning.

He was surprised that any of them had come to a party for him without being ordered to do so. He was surprised Sarah had thought to give him a birthday party and knew she never would have commanded his subjects to come. They had come because they wanted to celebrate him. They had come because they cared.

Slowly, he smiled. Hoggle peeked up at him from underneath his bushy brows. Jareth looked around at the faces of his subjects, his friends, and the only family he'd ever know. He looked back to the ridiculous present the Dwarf had given him, and finally, the King threw back his head and laughed and laughed. His laughter echoed throughout the palace, and soon, everybody there was laughing and smiling. Fears were dismissed, and the King's birthday was celebrated better than it ever had been before.

  
**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.


End file.
